Getting Back on Track

Life has been pretty chaotic these last few weeks. First with the miscarriage and being on bed rest for the week, then our crazy and perfect vacation here:

Can I go back, please??

Then this week I've been (unsuccessfully) trying to get laundry caught up and the house picked up while still trying to take it easy so my body can get back to normal. Thank heavens we have no plans today! Nothing at all. I can stay home and take things slow and get caught up on laundry and picking up and all the other junk that I've been putting off all week!

School here starts 2 weeks from Monday. CRAZY!!! This sweet little girl...

...will be heading out the door that morning and starting a whole new life of 7+ hours a day of school. Someone else will be her teacher. Not me. I hate that. Even now just thinking about it I'm tearing up. Ugh! I don't want her to grow up!!

And this baby boy of mine...

... will be off to start preschool shortly after that. :( What will I do with myself on those few days a week where I'm not mothering?! Five hours a week alone may sound super appealing to some moms. And I would be lying if I didn't admit that it sounds great to me on some days, too. But I just want to cry at the thought of my babies getting so big!!

Anyway, back from that tangent. So school starts in two weeks and we still have to get all of our school shopping done and get ourselves back on a routine. Especially that last one. We've been staying up way too late and playing way too hard, if that's even possible. :)

One (of the many) thing that has really fallen victim to the chaos lately is my poor, poor body. Aside from the trauma it's experienced twice in the last 7 or so months, I haven't taken very good care of it lately. My poor body has served me so well, especially considering all I've put it through, without a bit of gratitude from me really.

My dad and I were talking the night we got home from our vacation and he suggested a competition. I hesitated. You see, when my dad decides to get into shape he will eat well for one day and wake up the next morning to find 8 pounds magically missing! Not fair, I tell you. Besides, we all know that male and female metabolism can't compete.

I suggested competing for weight loss percentage, you know, like Biggest Loser! Then he suggested a set number. I wasn't into it. But then he explained. This set number (40 pounds, if you're wondering) is his total weight loss. And we all know that those last several pounds are the hardest to kick. And I (sadly) have much more to lose. Forty pounds for me should fall off pretty easily without crash dieting or rigorous workouts or anything. Simple healthy eating habits and moderate exercise should do it just fine.

So a race to a forty pound loss it is! I called him last night and asked him when he wanted to start. He suggested Monday. I agreed. Then we realized that we're having a huge birthday dinner and cake and ice cream that night for my sister's 13th (holy cow, she's going to be a teenager in DAYS!!) birthday. He suggested Tuesday. Then we decided that there will always be something to convince us that "tomorrow" is better. So I decided that today is best.

So here I am. At 199.4 fatty fat pounds. Yep, you read that right. Just half a pound away from 200. Yikes! How has my body continued functioning with all I've put it through to get here?! Crazy!

You probably all know about my four million past attempts to get my weight under control. From going vegetarian to trying different programs to even starting a blog dedicated to my progress. How many of those have been successful, you ask? Well, none. So what's different this time? Well, not much. Except that I'm just going to make it part of my life. I'm expecting to mess up. And I'm expecting to find myself giving excuses again. But I'm hoping that I'll be smart enough to remember that messing up doesn't mean that I've failed and that I should just eat whatever I want tomorrow because today wasn't perfect.

And actually, I feel like this time around should be pretty easy going for me. I love healthy foods. I like fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I don't eat meat every day. It makes me sick. So I eat lots of healthy proteins. Egg whites, beans, nuts. I like cooking even! My downfall is really the planning. When I forget to plan everything sort of collapses on me. But finding new recipes to try and mix in with old favorites and posting them has been fun for me! And I'm seeing more and more of you are doing it too.

So today my plan is just to make some healthy eating choices. I'm too busy today catching up on the mounds of laundry piled in my hallway to worry about adding workouts back into my day right this minute. I'm giving myself today to catch up. Tomorrow is Sunday, so I'll give myself a break tomorrow too. And then Monday I'll add workouts into the mix. Even with a big yummy dinner and cake and ice cream I think I can do well. I just need to be cautious about my portions. And the greatest thing is that the leftovers will be at my mom's, so I won't have to worry about indulging the next day (leftover cake for breakfast has always been a favorite indulgence of mine)!!

I'll be checking back on Saturday's from now on. And Monday's are my menu plan posts. So you'll have something to look forward to here a few days a week, hopefully with normal posts in between. :)

Anyway, wish me luck. And if you're in my shoes and need to be working hard, email me!! I love having a big support group to keep me on track!!